New York, with the highest concentration of large book publishing houses, ranks way down at #29 on the just-released list of the most literate U.S. cities, below Lexington-Fayette, KY (#15) and New Orleans (#17).

This is the fifth year of the study. Seattle has been #1 for three of those years. It lost out to Minneapolis in 2007 and tied with that city last year.

The rankings are based on the following per capita factors:

• Number of booksellers
• Education level
• Number of internet book orders and visitors to the city’s newspaper Web site
• Number of libraries, volumes held, circs and library professional staff
• Newspaper circulation
• Number of magazine publishers

The top five cities in terms of libraries are:

1. Cleveland, OH
2. St. Louis, MO
3. Pittsburgh, PA
4. Seattle, Wa
5. Cincinnati, OH

Just yesterday, we noted that The Help had appeared on only two best books lists — People’s and Entertainment Weekly‘s.

Forget about that — today, USA Today names it THE  Book of the Year.

The book’s author, Kathryn Stockett was also interviewed by Michelle Norris on NPR‘s All Things Considered last night. Norris introduces the interview by saying that The Help is a book she “can’t seem to escape.” Women call her about it, email her and even approach her in the frozen food aisle to talk about it. The Help seems to compell “…white women to seek out conversation with black women about race and privilege.”

The Help rose from #2 on Amazon sales rankings to #1.

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Penguin Audio; ISBN: 9780143144182 $39.95
Downloadable from OverDrive in both eBook and audio

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Also available on the NPR Web site is a poignant essay by Norris about the 1974 edition of The Black Book, recently released in a 35th anniversary edition, and what it meant to her and her family when she was growing up.

The Black Book: 35th Anniversary Edition Retail Price: $35.00 Hardcover: 224 pages Publisher: Random House – (2009-11-10) ISBN / EAN: 1400068487 / 9781400068487

[UPDATE: We wrote this before USA Today named The Help THE book of the year]

Amazingly, given the enormous number of best books lists, one title hasn’t appeared on any of them, despite strong reviews and word of mouth; The Help by Kathryn Stockett.

Both People and Entertainment Weekly have remedied the oversight. People lists The Help at #2 on its Top Ten Books list (after Open by Andre Agassi) and Entertainment Weekly lists it at #2 on their Best Fiction list (after NBA nominee, In Other Rooms, Other Wonders).

[The lists are not available online, link here for the titles on a downloable spreadsheet.]

Our friends over at The Book Reporter named The Help THE Book of the Year (if you want your voice heard, they invite you to nominate your favorite titles of the year).

Entertainment Weely selected ten fiction titles, but they managed to include two more that haven’t appeared on other lists:

#8 Fiction

Sing Them Home Stephanie Kallos Retail Price: $14.95 Paperback: 560 pages Publisher: Grove Press – (2009-08-25) ISBN / EAN: 0802144136 / 9780802144133

Blackstone Audio:

• Cassette; 1433203350; $65.95
• CD; 1433203367; $90.00

Audio downloadale from OverDrive

Entertainment Weekly‘s annotation doesn’t explain why they consider this one of the ten best fiction of the year —  “This fantastical story of three grieving siblings in windblown Nebraska might fly off into the heavens were it not for Kallos’ muscular prose.”

Kallos’ hometown newspaper, the Seattle Times makes a far better case for the book in their review.

PW gave it a starred review and called it an “enthralling second novel” (after the author’s debut Broken for You, which became a bestseller after it was selected for the Today Show Book Club).

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#9 Fiction

A Monster’s Notes Laurie Sheck Retail Price: $30.00 Hardcover: 544 pages Publisher: Knopf – (2009-06-23) ISBN / EAN: 0307271056 / 9780307271051

Entertainment Weekly says, “Sheck’s novel, burrowing into the mind of the creature from Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein, is no monstrous mash of brainy bits and hot air, but an electrifying literary triumph.”

That’s not so convincing, either. When you look for other reviews, it doesn’t get much better. Ron Charles at the Washington Post began his with this observation,

The rallying cry against big publishers is that new artists can’t be nourished by an industry obsessed with bestsellers. But before grabbing our pitchforks and torching the House of Bertelsmann, consider the inexplicable appearance of A Monster’s Notes by a poet named Laurie Sheck. Gorgeously printed by New York’s premier publishing house, here is a baffling 500-page book about Frankenstein’s creation that defies description and shreds any expectations you might have for a novel.

Then he delivers the coup de grâce,

I’m sure somewhere there’s a reader smart enough (or dishonest enough) to enjoy this novel in all its rich allusiveness, but I spent the entire ordeal lurching along about 50 IQ points behind.

If Ron Charles had trouble with the book, there’s not much hope for the rest of us.

We should note that prepub reviews were generally better; Booklist starred it and the “famously grumpy” Kirkus called it “Utterly astonishing and not to be missed.”

Well, you can’t say the People list is totally focused on popular titles.

An appearance on the Today Show this morning propelled Kevin Michael Connolly’s Double Take from #67,933 on Amazon sales rankings to #197.

Connolly was born without legs, but became a competitive skier and photographer. The title of the book refers to the fact that, wherever he goes, he’s stared at.

Kirkus called it “a courageous, immensely rewarding chronicle expressed in arresting words and pictures.”

(Thanks to Marin Younker at Sno-Isle P.L. for pointing this out on the library’s Collection Developments @ Sno-Isle blog. Check it out, if only for the falling snow! How DO they do that?)

UPDATE, Ed. Note —  I guess the above comment was too much for the EarlyWord Web guys (that’s adcStudio, in case you’re curious). A few minutes after this post, it began snowing on EarlyWord! Thanks for the laugh you guys — you’re the best!

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

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Double Take: A Memoir Kevin Michael Connolly Retail Price: $19.99 Hardcover: 240 pages Publisher: HarperStudio – (2009-10-01) ISBN / EAN: 0061791539 / 9780061791536

HarperAudio; UNAB CD; 9780061981562; $16.99

Book and Audio downloadable from OverDrive

A new program for teachers and parents of toddlers with autism is producing encouraging results.

The NYT “Well” blog points to a report in the Journal of  the American Academy of Pediatrics that shows the Early Start Denver Model (E.S.D.M.) resulted in increased I.Q.’s.

The “Well” blog also interviews one of the co-authors of a new book describing the program. Libraries we checked have not ordered it.

Early Start Denver Model for Young Children with Autism: Promoting Language, Learning, and Engagement Sally J. Rogers PhD, Geraldine Dawson PhD Retail Price: $48.00 Paperback: 297 pages Publisher: The Guilford Press – (2009-12-09) ISBN / EAN: 1606236318 / 9781606236314

THE biography catching reviewers’ attention this month is Joan Schenkar’s The Talented Miss Highsmith.

Highsmith’s books have had an enduring appeal, but were brought to a greater audience through recent movies based on the Ripliad, five novels featuring the charming sociopath Tom Ripley.

In the Washington Post, Jonatham Lethem’s review of the bio. is not as laudatory as others have been. Instead, he encourages readers to turn to the novels themselves.

As Lethem says, “The antidote to literary biography is literature.”

The Talented Miss Highsmith: The Secret Life and Serious Art of Patricia Highsmith Joan Schenkar Retail Price: $40.00 Hardcover: 704 pages Publisher: St. Martin’s Press – (2009-12-08) ISBN / EAN: 0312303750 / 9780312303754

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The following are the Highsmith titles that Lethem recommends.

The Talented Mr. Ripley, Ripley Under Ground, Ripley’s Game (Everyman’s Library) Patricia Highsmith Retail Price: $27.50 Hardcover: 880 pages Publisher: Everyman’s Library – (1999-10-12) ISBN / EAN: 0375407928 / 9780375407925

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The Cry of the Owl Patricia Highsmith Retail Price: $12.00 Paperback: 272 pages Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press – (1994-01-18) ISBN / EAN: 0871132907 / 9780871132901

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The Blunderer Patricia Highsmith Retail Price: $11.95 Paperback: 288 pages Publisher: W.W. Norton & Co. – (2001-11) ISBN / EAN: 0393322440 / 9780393322446

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This Sweet Sickness Patricia Highsmith Retail Price: $13.95 Paperback: 288 pages Publisher: W.W. Norton & Co. – (2002-10) ISBN / EAN: 0393323676 / 9780393323672

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The Tremor of Forgery Patricia Highsmith Retail Price: $12.00 Paperback: 264 pages Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press – (1994-01-14) ISBN / EAN: 0871132583 / 9780871132581

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Deep Water Patricia Highsmith Retail Price: $13.95 Paperback: 256 pages Publisher: W.W. Norton & Co. – (2003-07) ISBN / EAN: 0393324559 / 9780393324556

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A Dog’s Ransom Patricia Highsmith Retail Price: $12.95 Paperback: 256 pages Publisher: W.W. Norton & Co. – (2002-08-17) ISBN / EAN: 0393323366 / 9780393323368

If you just can’t get enough of best children’s books lists, rejoice. Horn Book has named their top picks of the year, 27 in all. The Barnes & Noble Review enlisted Lisa Von Drasek to pick her favorite Picture Books and Liz Rosenberg for the Best Chapter Books. The dearly departed Kirkus managed to get their lists of the Best Children’s and YA Books out in the knick of time.

We’ve updated our spreadsheet of all the picks, so you can check holdings, test your book knowledge, and identify titles you might have missed. The list includes ISBN’s for your ordering pleasure.

So, which titles seem to be on everyone’s list? Jerry Pinkney’s beautiful The Lion the Mouse got the most nods, with seven picks. The only list it’s not on is the NYT BR Notable Children’s Books, but it is on the NYT BR‘s Best Illustrated.

The NBA Winner, Claudette Colvin by Phillip Hoose was on every list it was eligible for, six in total, except the NYT Notable.

Following it are Francisco X. Stork’s Marcelo in the Real World, tied with Rebecca Stead’s When You Reach Me, which each got five picks (this time, BOTH are on the NYT Notable list). Two picture books also got five picks; Moonshot by Brian Floca and Yummy by Lucy Cousins.

What books get the fewest consumer reviews?

No, not midlist titles — books by bestselling authors. Most reviewers feel they don’t need the attention (with the notable exceptions of People and Entertainment Weekly).

The Daily Beast is jumping into the breach. William Book has begun a new column that sorts through the bestsellers to identify “which, if any, are readable” (I guess that assumes people buy the books, but don’t read them?)

Here’s how he describes his brief:

I’ll render the kind of blunt verdict you get when reading about toasters in Consumer Reports. I’ll tell you which of the bestsellers, if any, are readable. If they’re semi-readable, I’ll tell you which pages to skip. With any luck, you’ll know which one to pack for the flight to Jakarta. If you want a different approach, try The New York Review of Books.

The first up is Sue Grafton’s U is for Undertow. True to his word, he recommends that if you want to “cut straight to the whodunnit … skip over pages 25-26, 226-233, and 253-260,” although, “that’s not recommended, because U is for Undertow isn’t much of a mystery.”

Does he recommend reading it, “Absolutely,” although he doesn’t present a convincing case for doing so.

It’s a good idea for a column, but, generally, the prepub reviewers, who are not allergic to covering potential bestsellers (all four reviewed this one), were more articulate in their recommendations.

U is for Undertow (Kinsey Millhone Mystery) Sue Grafton Retail Price: $27.95 Hardcover: 416 pages Publisher: Putnam Adult – (2009-12-01) ISBN / EAN: 039915597X / 9780399155970

Random House Audio, UNABR CD; 9780739323212; $45
Large Print; Thorndike; 9781410420374
Book and audio downloadable from OverDrive

From the Boston Globe today:

I worry that libraries, even the newest ones, risk becoming fortresses buttressed by books, protecting Gutenberg’s technology for reasons of principle rather than pragmatism. Librarians need to educate themselves, and us, about the possibilities and limitations of digital books.

Columnist Alex Beam goes on to acknowledge that libraries are not totally clueless about the digital revolution. After all, the Boston Public Library, “can hook you up to a website called Overdrive” to download books.

Beam feels that “every large library in the state – heck, in the country – should buy 10 electronic book readers and allow patrons to check them out for two weeks, just like real books.” His not-so- “secret agenda” is to let people test drive them. He thinks they will discover that “to know and use e-books is not necessarily to love them.”

Never mind that lots of libraries are already lending reading devices or that there was a flurry of protest in the Boston Globe itself when the newspaper reported that Cushing Academy in Massachusetts had ditched its entire library for electronic books.

Oddly, after urging libraries to educate themselves about eBooks, Beam concludes, “The revolution may be digitized, but not anytime soon. Support your local library and their dowdy – but essential – collection of dead-tree lit.”

As good as it is to see someone urge library support, it would better if he understood more about what libraries are already doing and the challenges they face (and, we admit, it can be complicated — we’re tempted to quote George Clooney in Up in the Air, “Now this is going to be a little difficult, so stay with me.”)

We invite Mr. Beam to learn more about libraries in the digital world; an excellent beginning is Marilyn Johnson’s This Book is Overdue: How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All (Virginia Stanley at HarperCollins Library Marketing is sending him a galley, but meanwhile, he can read the first chapter online).

Mr. Beam also has the opportunity hear author Marilyn Johnson speak at ALA MidWinter, held conveniently in his hometown next month:

Mon., Jan. 18, 2–4 p.m.

ALTAFF Gala Author Tea (tickets are $35; buy them when registering for the conference. If you have already registered, you can call (800) 974-3084 to add tickets):

• Marilyn Johnson, This Book Is Overdue! How Libraries and Cybrarians Can Save Us All
• Holly LeCraw, The Swimming Pool
• Janice Y.K. Lee, The Piano Teacher
• Karl Marlantes, Matterhorn
• Teri Woods, Dutch II: Angel’s Revenge

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This Book Is Overdue!: How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All Marilyn Johnson Retail Price: $24.99 Hardcover: 288 pages Publisher: Harper – (2010-02-01) ISBN / EAN: 0061431605 / 9780061431609

The teaser trailer for the forthcoming Alice in Wonderland à la Tim Burton did not include a scene Alice fans adore; the Queen of Hearts (in this case, Helena Bonham Carter) screaming, “Off with their heads!” (it seems Burton has renamed her the Red Queen, who is actually in Through the Looking-Glass, but this is not a literal interpretation of Lewis Carroll’s books. Burton’s film is about a 19-year-old Alice, who returns to the lands she visited as a young girl).

A new trailer addresses includes the beloved pronouncement and adds another catch phrase for the Queen, one which may eclipse the original.

Still no caterpillar, however.

To see a larger (and somewhat longer version) go to the Web site.

The movie opens March 5, 2010.

How do I buy a book for a kid I don’t know well?

It’s a common question and our own Lisa Von Drasek bravely offers answers over at the Barnes and Noble Review. She suggests dozens of kid pleasers for every age range, while avoiding top sellers that kids might already own.

For instance, what kid wouldn’t be fascinated by the following title, written by the executive director of the International Spy Museum?

The Real Spy’s Guide to Becoming a Spy Peter Earnest, Suzanne Harper Retail Price: $16.95 Hardcover: 144 pages Publisher: Abrams Books for Young Readers – (2009-10-01) ISBN / EAN: 081098329X / 9780810983298

A book described as “the first definitive history” of the Clinton/Lewinsky scandal won’t be released until mid-February, but news sources are already leaking tidbits.

According to the New York Times, The Death of American Virtue: Clinton vs. Starr, by Ken Gormley, a law professor at Duquesne University and author of Archibald Cox: Conscience of a Nation (1997),  “adds new details…Mr. Gormley secured unusual cooperation from nearly all of the main players, including Mr. Clinton, Mr. Starr and Ms. Lewinsky.”

The first news story about the book came from Politico, under the headline “Monica’s back – says Clinton lied.” It details the book’s revelations, including Gormley’s assertion that Clinton had an affair with Susan McDougal, who went to jail rather than testify against him about Whitewater.

The AP also reports on the story, saying they “obtained a copy” of the book. That probably wasn’t difficult, since the publisher sent out galleys; both Publishers Weekly and Kirkus reviewed it.

Kirkus warned that most American might find it too soon to revisit events from ten years ago, but “for those wishing to understand exactly what happened during this confusing, dismal time, Gormley’s informed reporting and evenhanded analysis is the place to start.”

Libraries we checked have not ordered copies yet.

The Death of American Virtue: Clinton vs. Starr Ken Gormley Retail Price: $35.00 Hardcover: 800 pages Publisher: Crown – (2010-02-16) ISBN / EAN: 0307409449 / 9780307409447

None of the titles on Time magazine’s list of the five best business books of the year will be a surprise.

More useful from a library standpoint is 1-800-CEO-READ’s Best Business Book Awards of 2009, because it includes books on practical subjects people are looking for these days, like how to run a small business, management and salesmanship (here’s a title that speaks to our times — How to Sell When Nobody’s Buying).

800-CEO-READ was founded as the corporate sales division of  the Harry W. Schwartz Bookshops in Milwaukee. The retail stores were closed March 31, but CEO-READ continues to operate. They  run a monthly list of their top sellers and published The 100 Best Business Book of All Time this year.

Number one on Stephen King’s Top Ten Books of the year is Sarah Waters’ The Little Stranger, which has appeared on several other lists and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize this year.

King’s list appears in the new issue of Entertainment Weekly. Since King draws from the books he read during the year, it includes older titles, like Richard Yates’ Revolutionary Road (#2), Salman Rushdie’s Midnights Children (#4) and last year’s literary superstar, 2666 by Roberto Bolano (#5).

At #6 is a title that hasn’t appeared on other lists, a book that King says is “The most suspenseful book I read all year,” Michael Robotham’s Shatter.

Kirkus said of the Australian author’s fourth thriller, “Robotham sharpens the conventional horrors with his unerring eye for psychological detail, his mastery of pace and his spooky villain, a manipulator as monstrous as Hannibal Lecter.”

Shatter Michael Robotham Retail Price: $24.95 Hardcover: 448 pages Publisher: Doubleday – (2009-03-17) ISBN / EAN: 0385517912 / 9780385517911

Audio; Recorded Books

• UNABR CD; 9781436174541; $123.75
• UNABR Cass; 9781436192651; $64.75

Book downloadable from OverDrive.

A Single Man, based on Christopher Isherwood’s novel, opened in a few theaters last week and will roll out nationally on Christmas Day. Fashion designer Tom Ford’s directorial debut has received generally admiring reviews as well as three Golden Globe nominations:

• Colin Firth, Best Actor
• Julianne Moore, Best Supporting Actress
• Best Original Score

In its review of the movie, the NYT describes the book as,

…a foundational text in modern gay literature. The novelist Edmund White, for one, called the book “the first truly liberated gay novel in English.”

and,

An intensely, at times uncomfortably, intimate work of fiction, A Single Man condenses [the main character] George’s story — much of his very life — into one emotion- and event-charged day. What makes the day special, and the book too, is George’s existential condition. George is single. And he is a man. But he is also a homosexual, which helps set him and his lusting, fading body apart from almost everyone in his life.

Given the gay theme, there have been accusations that promoting the movie with an image of Colin Firth and Julianne Moore sharing a pillow is, at the least, misleading.

[To see the trailer in a full-screen version, go to the movie Web site.]

The University of Minnesota Press, which owns the rights to many of Isherwood’s titles, is releasing the tie-in. According to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the press originally planned to include Moore on the cover, but Ford “nixed the idea.”

The U. of Minn. Press also created a Web site for the book, that includes an excerpt, reading group guides and information on other Isherwood titles in their catalog.

A Single Man Christopher Isherwood Retail Price: $15.95 Paperback: 186 pages Publisher: University of Minnesota Press – (2001-04) ISBN / EAN: 0816638624 / 9780816638628

HighBridge is releasing a new audio version, with tie-in art:

A Single Man Christopher Isherwood Audio CD: $24.95 Publisher: HighBridge Company – (2009-12-22) ISBN / EAN: 1615730583 / 9781615730582

Audio Excerpt

Audio also downloadable from OverDrive